The Two Supercargoes; Or, Adventures in Savage Africa

by William Henry Giles Kingston

It was farther inland than we had intended to go, but from his description we made out that there was a lake or pond fed by a stream coming down from the mountains of the interior, and which afterwards lost itself in the sand. We had gone some distance when Aboh made a sign for us to note that the ground had been trampled down by many feet, and that the people who had passed that way had broken off a number of young saplings, probably to form spears, and had also torn down the boughs to serve as other weapons of offence or defence. After going a short distance farther, the sound of voices reached our ears. Aboh shook his head. “No good, no good,” he muttered, and made us understand that we must advance cautiously.

Presently he again stopped, and advised us by signs to conceal ourselves. He then crept forward, crouching down beneath the bushes, so that he could not be perceived by any persons in front.

“I’ll go forward and try and learn what his object is,” I whispered to my companions; and Charley not forbidding me, I imitated Aboh’s example and quickly overtook him. He turned on hearing my footsteps, and seeing that I was resolved to accompany him, made a sign to me to be cautious. We had not gone far when the sounds we had before heard became so loud that I knew we must be close upon the people who were uttering them. After advancing a few paces farther, on looking through the bushes I saw a large party of blacks encamped in an open spot surrounded by tall trees. They were evidently in an excited state, looking up the glade as if they expected some one to approach. They were mostly employed in sharpening the ends of long poles in several fires they had lighted. I at once recognised them as the blacks whom we had assisted to escape from the wreck. They numbered, however, fewer than those who had landed, and I concluded, therefore, that some had deserted their companions in misfortune. Those who had gone away probably belonged to a tribe in the neighbourhood, and were endeavouring to reach their own people.

We were not long left in doubt as to the cause of their excitement. Some distance off we caught sight of another large party of negroes advancing with threatening gestures, many of them being armed with muskets and bayonets. On seeing this, Aboh, seizing me by the arm, dragged me back, and motioned me to climb into a large tree the lower branches of which we could reach without much difficulty, he setting me the example and assisting me up. We soon gained a place where we were completely concealed and protected by the thick boughs. Scarcely were we seated than we saw the slaves advancing towards the newcomers, flourishing the spears they had made and shouting savagely, as if not aware that their opponents had firearms, or fearless of their effects. They soon, however, discovered their mistake. The enemy fired a volley which brought several of them to the ground.

Notwithstanding this they rushed forward, and a fierce hand-to-hand conflict ensued. The slaves greatly outnumbered their opponents, of whom there were probably not more than fifty or sixty, but nearly all these had muskets. Some of the firearms, I observed, did not go off, probably because they had no locks, or it may have been that their powder was bad. The parties were indeed more evenly matched than at first appeared to have been the case. They fought with the greatest desperation. Those who had muskets which would go off kept at a distance firing at the slaves, while their comrades either charged with their bayonets, or holding the barrels in their hands, used their weapons as clubs.

Several on both sides had fallen, when a fresh party of armed negroes appeared in the direction from whence the others had come. On seeing them, the slaves, who had hitherto fought so bravely, were seized with a panic. The greater number took to flight, making their way westward towards the coast, though they must have looked in vain for succour in that direction. I was afraid that some of them, flying in other directions, might pass by the spot where we had left our friends, who would run a great risk of being killed either by them or their pursuers. Aboh and I were so well concealed that there was not much danger of our being discovered. As may be supposed, we crouched down among the thick leaves, much in the same way that Charles the Second did in the oak after the fight of Worcester. The tide of battle swept by beneath our feet, and a more fearful din of shouts and shrieks and cries I had never heard. Those of the slaves who had been engaged in the front rank, deserted by their companions, were mostly bayoneted or shot down or knocked on the head, but the courageous way in which they fought enabled the rest to get to some distance before their rear ranks were overtaken by their pursuers. At length not a combatant was to be seen, but the ground was strewn with the dead and dying. As I was anxious to rejoin my friends, I immediately descended. Had I possessed a drop of water I would have taken it to the poor wretches, whose moans as they lay expiring reached my ears.

“Do you think we could help some of them?” I said to Aboh, pointing to the wounded men.

“No good,” he said, and made a sign that they would soon be dead. I went up to three or four, and was convinced from the nature of their hurts that I could do nothing for them; indeed, the spirits of most of them fled while I stood by. Aboh then, seizing my arm, hurried me away.

I found Charley and Harry very anxious about me, for hearing the firing, they supposed that I must have been in the thick of it, and by my not coming back they thought that I was either killed or taken prisoner.

“One thing is certain, we must not remain here a moment longer. The negroes will very likely pass this way, and either kill us all or carry us off into captivity,” observed Charley. “I have heard that the black people in this part of the country are among the most savage of the African tribes, and that some—the Fans—are cannibals. I don’t know to what tribe Aboh belongs, but I hope he is not a Fan.”